A ship attacked by Yemen's Houthis has sunk in the Red Sea after days of taking on water, officials said Saturday, the first vessel to be fully destroyed as part of their campaign over Israel's war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The sinking of the Rubymar comes as shipping through the crucial waterway for cargo and energy shipments moving from Asia and the Middle East to Europe has been affected by the Houthi attacks. The Belize-flagged Rubymar had been drifting northward after being struck by a Houthi anti-ship ballistic missile on February 18 in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a crucial waterway linking the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Yemen's internationally recognized government confirmed the ship sank. The British military's United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center, which watches over Mideast waterways, also acknowledged the Rubymar's sinking Saturday afternoon.
On Friday, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) declared that it had conducted missile strikes against Houthis in Yemen in "self-defense." "On March 1, at approximately 12:40 p.m. (Sanaa time), U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted a self-defense strike against one Iranian-backed Houthi surface-to-air missile that was prepared to launch from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen towards the Red Sea. CENTCOM forces identified the missile and determined it presented an imminent threat to U.S. aircraft in the region."CENTCOM added that the Houthis launched one anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) from Yemen into the Red Sea, but there was no impact or damage to any vessels.
Yemen's Prime Minister Ahmed bin Mubarak, on Saturday, accused the owners of the Rubymar ship of negligence and failure to cooperate with the Yemeni government to save the ship and spare the Red Sea a marine environmental disaster, shortly after the government announced the sinking of the ship in the Red Sea. Bin Mubarak appealed to the international community to take practical and urgent action and form an international emergency cell to save the Red Sea and address the environmental disaster resulting from the ship sinking.
Seven hostages who have been held in Gaza were killed as a result of the Israeli military's bombardment of the enclave, Abu Ubaida, the spokesperson for Hamas' armed wing Al-Qassam brigades said on Friday. He did not include details, like a timeline, backing up the claim. The Al-Qassam brigades claimed that the number of hostages killed due to Israel's military operations in Gaza has now exceeded 70 captives, Abu Ubaida added in a statement.Israeli officials have generally declined to respond to Hamas' public messaging on the hostages, casting it as psychological warfare. Israel's military assault on the Gaza Strip has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza-based health ministry.
